Dear EarthTalk:

Is it true that bee populations are healthier in and around organic farms than elsewhere and if so, why?

Martin Mason, St. Louis, MO

According to experts from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, bees are responsible for a third of the world’s food production. Flowering plants, which make up about 75 percent of agricultural crops, depend on pollinators like bees for seed production, thus ensuring the success of future crop generations. Concerningly, this critical insect faces a multitude of health threats.

Bees are mainly threatened by constant exposure to synthetic pesticides. Neonicotinoids, for example, are common insecticides that affect the receptors in a bee’s nervous system. Consuming the nectar of treated plants, even in small amounts, can impair bees’ motor skills and foraging behaviors. Other conventional insecticides including diazinon, acephate and pyrethrin are also correlated with declining bee health.

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Regardless of whether farms use synthetic pesticides, pests and pathogens such as Deformed Wing Virus are constant threats to bee health. The Varroa mite, which feeds on the blood and bodies of bees, affects nearly every hive in the U.S. As such, colonies untreated by either organic or non-organic beehive-specific pesticides can expect to survive for three years maximum against infestation before collapse.

Farming monocultures also pose a threat to pollinators, as the nutritional makeup of nectar and pollen varies between crops. When bees are exposed to a single crop, they can suffer from malnutrition and weakened immune systems. Monocultures also tend to be heavily affected by parasites.

Starting in 2006, the rate of Colony Collapse Disorder—the sudden flight of honey bees from seemingly healthy hives—has drastically increased to 31 percent of hives annually. Experts haven’t yet identified a singular cause, rates trend lower on farms that meet the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) National Organic Program standards, suggesting that organic farms may be healthiest for their pollinators.

Primarily, bees inhabiting organic farms are exposed to fewer toxic substances; USDA’s organic standards prohibit the majority of synthetic pesticides and promote integrated pest management (IPM) techniques such as crop rotation which improves upon natural biodiversity. Organic farms also tend to implement more cover crops and multi-functional insectary hedge rows, benefitting bees nutritionally.

While nation-wide all-organic polycultures may be economically infeasible, techniques such as implementing hedge-rows can promote bee health even when coupled with synthetic pesticides. Ultimately, however, an absence of toxic chemicals provides the greatest health benefits; as such, bee populations tend to be healthier in and around organic farms as opposed to conventional farms.

CONTACTS

• Alphonse Avitable, co-author of The Beekeeper’s Handbook; British Ecological Society, https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.13447.

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